The 117th CBC in Texas

Cool species, warm weather, and missing birds characterizes the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) this season.

The Top Species this season was the Amazon Kingfisher at Laredo making its first appearance on a United States Christmas Bird Count.  Texas set records with 112 CBCs, 3333 birders and 7970 party-hours.  However, it was not a good season for high species tallies.  The 382 species reported across the State was the highest in six seasons, but most species tallies for individual CBCs came in lower than expected.

Wikipedia reported 2016 as the 3^rd record breaking year in a row for warmth.  It felt warm leading up to the CBC season as compilers started preparing for their “weather roulette”.  Half of the Texas CBCs are conducted during the first week of the season.  Compilers defend their day of the week from “trespass compilers”, watch the forecast every day, do a weather dance, say many prayers, and grit their teeth to make the best of what Mother Nature dishes out.

Thirty-five percent of the CBCs dodged severe weather when a major cold front disrupted the warm balmy conditions with temperatures dropping below freezing across much of the state the first Saturday night of the season.  The CBCs on Sunday and Monday caught the brunt of it. This two day frontal passage was challenging to survey when birders on Sunday were looking for the least severe part of the day to expend most of their effort outside of a vehicle.  The 2^nd day of the front on Monday was colder, but the winds were milder if you could call 20 mph mild.  Twelve percent of the counts had to endure these conditions and it obviously impacted the CBCs including the top tier counts Freeport and Matagorda County. 

Early results from the CBCs raised the question where were the birds.  Sparrows were scarce throughout the State, woodland passerines occurred below average.  Warblers were uncommon.  Habitats were very quiet.  Suspicion is that our friendly, but competitive states to the North found a way to short stop “our birds” J.  Population trends will be discussed in more detail later in this article.

The Amazon Kingfisher is new for a U.S. CBC.  It arrived in late October and has been present throughout the CBC season leading into spring 2017.  The bird was reported as a “fly-by” during the CBC and has been photographed many times before and after the CBC.

Other Rarities reported will be referenced to frequency during the last 10 years on Texas CBCs in this section.  Two Tundra Swans were reported by Anthony Hewetson on the Muleshoe CBC for the 4^th time this decade.  A “Great White” Heron was photographed during the Laguna Atascosa CBC for the 2^nd record. An American Golden-Plover was reported for the 3^rd time by Sandy Dillard on the Matagorda County CBC. This bird was present for two days.

A Mew Gull was photographed during the El Paso CBC by Jim Paton for the 2^nd record.  This species has been appearing annually in large flocks of Ring-billed Gulls.  A calling Common Poorwill was heard five times by Karen McBride during early morning hours of the Matagorda County CBC for the 3^rd record.

Three Broad-billed Hummingbirds were reported this season for the 4^th record.  An adult and immature male were photographed on the El Paso CBC and one other bird was reported on the Davis Mountains CBC.  The 2^nd record for an Acadian Flycatcher was reported by Susan Heath and Tad Finnell at Matagorda County.  They had a lengthy close view of the bird in a bottomland hardwood forest tract. The 1^st record for a Warbling Vireo was reported at the new Jackson-Calhoun counties CBC.  Dale Friedrichs had a lengthy view and was able to compare it to several other species nearby.  The 4^th record for a Chestnut-sided Warbler was reported by Robert and E.J. Creglow on the Corpus Christi CBC.

The Grace’s Warbler which was the Best Bird last year was found again this season on the Armand Bayou CBC.  It was photographed by Andrew Hamlett.  The 2^nd record of an Oporornis sp. warbler was identified by Barbara Rapstein on the Bolivar Peninsula CBC.

The 3^rd season for Scott’s Oriole involved three birds on three CBCs.  Barry Zimmer’s very productive back yard supported a Scott’s Oriole for several weeks leading up to the El Paso CBC.  Another Scott’s was reported on the Chisos Mountain CBC by Madeline Averett in an area they are known to frequent.  The last was reported by Flo Rice on the Westcave Preserve CBC.

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The 117^th Season started on Wednesday with Attwater’s Prairie Chicken N.W.R. and La Sal Vieja conducting their counts. It progressed through its normal schedule of CBCs with generally warm weather interrupted by brief periods of cold fronts and rain. Average temps were 48 for low and 66 for high.  (Northern birders are invited to come south for some Great Birding in December). It rained on 29% of the CBCs but was generally light. The Season ended on 5 January at Guadalupe Mountains with temps in the 50’s and winds gusting to 50 mph.

Matagorda County led the state with 229 species, and was followed by Guadalupe River Delta with 206.  Freeport had 189, Jackson-Calhoun 186, San Bernard 178, and Corpus Christi 177.

Other CBCs with at least 150 species were Anzalduas-Bentsen 168, Powderhorn Ranch 166, Weslaco 165, Aransas & Bolivar Peninsula 164, Attwater’s Prairie-Chicken N.W.R. 162, Laguna Atascosa 159, Harlingen 157, Houston, Kingsville & Port Aransas 154, Santa Ana 151, and Rockport 150.

A total of 3333 birder days used 7970 party-hours at 112 CBCs to produce 382 species, 13 infraspecific forms and 15 exotics. Seven traditional CBCs were not run with no immediate plans to restart four of these.  Fort Hood, Jackson-Calhoun Counties, Powderhorn Ranch, and San Marcus are new CBCs.  We look forward to great reports from them.

The two new counts on the Coast make four CBCs for lightly populated Calhoun County and this helps fill gaps in CBC coverage. Back in the 1990’s when I was considering starting the Guadalupe River Delta – McFaddin Family Ranches CBC, I was recommended to not do it because of the lack of birders in the area.  Few birders lived near the Victoria and Aransas CBCs which were nearby.  I held off for about 10 years in starting this count which now places 2^nd – 5^th annually for total species.  I found if you produced a good product birders will come.

Red-throated Loon, Wood Stork, Hook-billed Kite, and Great Black-backed Gull were only reported during Count Week.  During the last 10 years 10 species which were found 60% of the time were missed along with 96 species that had been reported at least once during that period. 

Four species were deleted for lack of adequate documentation.  Most compilers were very cooperative by providing 80% of the required documentation for unusual sightings with 157 of the species being photographed. 

Welcome Sign for Birders on the Matagorda County CBC.

Most Christmas Bird Counts operate in obscurity.  We generally arrive in our count areas known only to the birding community and a few landowners.  In some cases, we notify the Sheriff’s Department and Game Wardens to alert them that people out at night with spotlights and binoculars during day are conducting bird surveys.   A few CBCs in Texas like the Matagorda County-Mad Island Marshes CBC are well known and garner large local support.  A billboard from a remote subdivision alerting landowners to fill feeders for the CBC is special, and newspaper articles prior to the count are not unusual.

EXCLUSIVES

One exciting aspect of participating in CBCs is finding the only species for a count and maybe for Texas.  There were many “exclusives” this season.  Texas had 36 instances where a species was found at only one CBC and 23 of these instances only involved one individual of a species.  This is amazing when you realize birders spent 3333 days in the field and they only found one individual of each of those species.  Production of exclusives varied from seven at Davis Mountains, three each at Corpus Christi and Matagorda County, and two each at El Paso, Granger and Chisos Mountains.  One species was exclusive to 17 other CBCs.

Sometimes I ponder what are the most important CBCs for species diversity in Texas.  It would have to be those West Texas counts.  They are each unique and irreplaceable.  They demonstrated this with their long list of exclusives this season.  Davis Mountains led the state with seven.  They had their traditional Montezuma Quail, Band-tailed Pigeon, Western Screech-Owl and Mountain Chickadee, and they spiced up our state list with the addition of Long-eared Owl, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, and Williamson’s Sapsucker.

Corpus Christi had another good year with rarities.  They reported the only Wilson’s Phalarope which has become somewhat regular for them.  They also had the only Western Kingbird and Chestnut-sided Warbler.

Matagorda County continued to show that it could produce rarities along with high numbers of species.  They reported the only American Golden-Plover, Common Poorwill, and Acadian Flycatcher.

El Paso reported the only Mew Gull and Costa’s Hummingbird.  Granger found its traditional Mountain Plovers and added Tennessee Warbler for good measure.  Chisos Mountains also delivered its traditional Mexican Jay and the big surprise a photographed Varied Bunting.

THE NUMBER ONE

I am fascinated by the Number One as it pertains to CBCs.  Number One State, CBC, Party and Birder all have their place in a competitive environment.  Finding the only one bird is also pretty interesting.  Was it the only individual out there or was there not enough quality coverage to find more of that species is a question I ask myself many times as a compiler.  Finding one individual excites me.  Yet, at the same time it makes me very nervous in that we need to do a better job because I believe there is seldom just one individual.

I looked at the percentage of species reported by each Texas CBC that were represented by one individual and broke this down into categories based on total species reported by CBCs.  CBCs with 100 or less species averaged 13.2 % of their species being represented by one individual.  CBCs with 101 – 150 species had 10.8% species comprised of one individual.  CBCs with 151-200 species had 9.3% comprised of one individual, and the two CBCs over 200 were comprised of 9.2% by one bird.

I took this one step further and looked at the results of the Matagorda County CBC during the last 18 years which is a CBC that typically has 120 birders, and the 13 years of the Guadalupe River Delta CBC which typically has 60 birders.  During the three CBCs at Matagorda County with less than 230 species 8.7% were one, 9% were one for the 11 CBCs with 231-240 species, and 11.6% for the species with over 240 species. During the seven years with less than 220 species, Guadalupe River Delta had 10.8% with one, and 11.4% with one for the six years with 220+ species.

What does one individual mean?  It appears to mean that with better coverage you will have more species and less species with one individual.  However, some years just confounds the averages.  Consider the year when Matagorda County had 250 species.  Thirty individuals represented 30 species (12%).  I continue to be curious as to how many we missed.

Population Trend

[Population trend report will compare number of individuals reported this season to the last 10-years in Texas.  Population changes indicated will be for those reports which deviated by more than one standard deviation from that species 10-year average unless otherwise indicated.]

                  Percentage of species increasing or decreasing by season is listed below.  This season’s results show similar patterns to non-drought winters in Texas.

Gadwall, Blue-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Long-tailed Duck, and Ruddy Duck increased while Greater White-fronted Goose, Northern Pintail, and Bufflehead decreased.  Blue-winged Teal and Ring-necked Duck numbers are very much associated with available freshwater wetlands and Blue-winged Teal tend to be more abundant during warmer weather. 

Scoters continued to be difficult to locate with most expected to be on the Coast.  Two found near Laredo was a major surprise.  The Surf and White-winged were photographed by Susan Foster, Mary Gustafson, and Teresa Keck at a private ranch on the Laredo CBC.

Long-tailed Ducks were reported above average (4).  They were found at Bolivar Peninsula, Jackson-Calhoun Counties, Laredo, and La Sal Vieja CBCs.

The new Powderhorn Ranch CBC showed that the Espiritu Santo Bay was quality loon habitat when they reported 137.

Colonial waterbirds did well this season with above average reports of Brown Booby, Neotropic Cormorant, American White Pelican, Brown Pelican, Least Bittern, Little Blue Heron, Reddish Egret, Cattle Egret, and Yellow-crowned Night-Heron.  Northern Gannet, Green Heron, and Black-crowned Night-Heron were the only species declining.  The Little Blue Heron is a species of national concern because of long-term declining populations.  Nesting surveys in Texas showed that today’s population is less than half of historic levels.  Winter populations during the last decade appear to be declining as well.

The Cattle Egret is a cold sensitive species.  The doubling of the average tally this season might be related to the very mild conditions.

Six species of raptors increased in numbers and five decreased.  White-tailed Kites were one of the increasing species and were locally abundant in the Matagorda County area.

Diurnal raptors numbers generally did not change from previous seasons; six showed an increase and three decreased.  The 1322 Ospreys reported were one of the highest in the last 10 years.  Bald Eagles continue to increase with major increases in the Matagorda County area. 

Zone-tailed Hawks have gone from a rare bird to a species which is expected on many CBCs.  Ten were reported on 10 CBCs this season. 

On the other hand, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, and Ferruginous Hawk occurred in below average numbers.  These lower numbers might be more associated with a delayed arrival on the winter grounds rather than a reduction in population.

Rails are challenging to survey.  Special techniques are often required for the rarer Black and Yellow rails.  This frequently involves working at night and many times driving atvs through very dense grasslands.   

The King Rail is a Species of Concern nationally.  Its population has declined along with large freshwater wetlands and the encroachment of trees upon them.  Like other species of rails, there appears to be inconsistent CBC effort in surveying them to determine their true status.  The CBC trends illustrate widely varying results.  Conservation organizations are developing plans to survey marsh birds along the Gulf Coast because of uncertainty of using citizen science data.

Shorebird numbers were relatively stable this season.  This is surprising since the major CBC (Kenedy County – Wind Turbines) reporting shorebirds was enveloped by fog for all but two hours of the day.

Piping Plovers have been increasing steadily over the years.  With the addition of two new coastal CBCs I was expecting an increase.  However, birders reported below average numbers.

Mew and California Gulls were found in West Texas, Franklin’s Gulls lingered in above average numbers, and Lesser Black-backed Gulls continued to increase on Texas CBCs.  Lesser Black-backed was a rarity until about seven years ago.  It now has become regular on most Coastal CBCs.

The Mew Gull is reported as an annual occurrence by Jim Paton amid large flocks of Ring-billed Gulls on the west side of El Paso.

Gull-billed, Caspian, Forster’s, and Royal terns increased and Black Skimmers decreased.  Nesting Black Skimmers have been reported declining for years.  With this season’s below average number I checked on CBC trends.  As displayed below the winter population appears stable through 50 years but declining over the last 10.

Inca Dove, Common Ground-Dove, and Mourning Dove had below average numbers for the 2^nd year in a row.  With reports that the expansion of White-wings to urban areas in the 90’s and more recently Eurasian Collared-Doves greatly increasing numbers in town, I decided to look at trends for the neighborhood friendly Inca Dove.  It appears to be having a steady population decline.

In general, the diversity and abundance of hummingbirds in the eastern count areas had dropped during the drought years and have not recovered, yet.  Archilochus and Selasphorus hummingbirds are very challenging to identify in the field.  Many birders do not take the time to satisfactorily document these species and as a result they are allowed to only be identified to the genus.

The 3^rd record this decade of a Costa’s Hummingbird was reported in El Paso, and an above average number of Broad-tailed Hummingbirds were reported this season.

It was an amazing year for falcons.  All falcons were tallied in above average numbers with Crested Caracara, American Kestrel, and Merlin setting all-time highs.  Crested Caracara numbers have reached high enough numbers where they are becoming pest for livestock by their depredation habits on newborn calves. This species is very opportunistic and aggressive.  It is common to see caracaras chasing other raptors with food.  They respond to fires/farming practices to locate exposed wildlife and I have once watch a flock of two-dozen working a wet turf farm.  Curious, I watched them for an hour apparently grubbing for earth worms.

Vermilion Flycatcher and Tropical Kingbird were reported in record numbers while Brown-crested Flycatcher was reported three times its average frequency over the past decade.

The Guadalupe River drainage continues to be the main wintering area for Couch’s Kingbird with 1/3 of CBC reports coming from this area.  Brown-crested Flycatchers were widespread this year with nine reported on five CBCs.  The highest tally was four on the Guadalupe River Delta.

Loggerhead Shrike is a priority species for a number of conservation organizations.  Density of shrikes in the late 1900’s was much higher than it is today.  Populations appear to have stabilized on Texas CBCs for the time being.

Record numbers of White-eved Vireos were reported and Hutton’s Vireo continues to be reported in above average numbers.

Ravens and Mexican Jays were reported above average, and American Crows were reported at 60% of average possibly due to migrating late into the South.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow was reported above average which was in contrast to other swallows occurring at normal levels.  Carolina Chickadee and Tufted Titmouse numbers were down.  The woods were very quiet without these species responding to screech-owl lures.

Canyon and Bewick’s wrens were reported in near record numbers while Brown Thrasher, Northern Mockingbird, American Pipit, and Lapland Longspur were below average.

With the formal proposal for the Sprague’s Pipit to be listed as federally endangered, interest in this species has increased.  Texas CBCs have reported it at well below average during the recent drought and numbers have returned close to normal since then.  Attwaters and Freeport had the highest tallies this season with 38 and 35, respectively.

Twenty-one species of warblers were reported this season with Tropical Parula and Prairie Warblers occurring at above average, and Yellow-throated occurring below.  Matagorda County reported the most species of warblers with 12.  It was followed by Guadalupe River Delta and Weslaco with 11, Freeport 10, and three other CBCs with nine.

The 12 Summer Tanagers reported on eight CBCs was the highest tally in Texas during the last 15 years.  It was part of increasing numbers of this species over the last five years.

Out of the 32 sparrow-like regularly occurring species two occurred above average, 12 below average and 18 at normal levels.  These below average numbers primarily occurred with the most abundant birds (Chipping Sparrow, Field Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, White-crowned Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Canyon Towhee, Green-tailed Towhee, and Northern Cardinal) creating a setting of very few birds and little activity.  This followed last season’s record lows for six sparrow species. The most popular thought is that they have not migrated south by the time of the CBCs.  Savannah Sparrows averages 27,000 each year during the last decade, but only 16,700 were reported this season.  Looking at northern states there are no obvious staging of this species.  High tallies are shown to the west in California and east in Louisiana which is normal.

Where are the expected sparrows? 

I was impressed with the four Painted Buntings that were reported on three CBCs, until eBird reports showed four at the Matagorda County Birding Nature Center which is not in a CBC circle, yet.

Five oriole species were reported this season.  Scott’s Oriole is normally rare but they were reported from three sites – Chisos Mountains, El Paso, and Westcave Preserve.      

MOST COMMON BIRDS

The Red-tailed Hawk was the most widespread species occurring on all of the 112 Texas CBCs.  The American Kestrel occurred on 110, Ruby-crowned Kinglet 109, and Great Blue Heron and Northern Mockingbird on 108 CBCs.  The least abundant were the 23 species where only one individuals was found.  These single individuals represented 6% of the species.  An interesting aspect to only one individual of 23 species being found was that the number one was the most frequent abundance of all species reported.  The 2^nd most frequent was three which occurred 16 times, followed by two which occurred 10 times.

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DELAYED MIGRATION

It would be easy to report that the scarcity of birds this winter was related to a delayed migration that was facilitated by a warmer than normal fall.  Relatively abundant Blue-winged Teal, Least Bittern, Little Blue Heron, Cattle Egret, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, and flycatchers which are species that are known to linger during mild winters, and scarcity of Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, and American Crow which are thought to follow food supplies are potential indicators of mild conditions.  The much lower than normal numbers of 12 species of sparrows definitely make you think there was a delayed migration but for what reason: abundant food in the north? Lack of strong cold fronts?  With National news sources reporting this as the warmest year, we have two separate actions (scarcity of birds and warm weather) occurring at the same time.  Is this a good fit? Maybe, but it does not explain the few hummingbirds, and mediocre warbler tallies. I would expect the reverse with warmer conditions.  Nor do we understand the lack of chickadees, titmice, and cardinals.

The Yellow-headed Blackbird frequently is one of the last birds of the day on the Coast.  The few that are in the area tend to fly to roost with Red-winged Blackbirds.  This gives incentives to competitive birders to add one more species by birding a little longer before they call it a day or season.